There are a number of apps available for app prototyping, and one of them has been Codea which allows you to create games on the iPad using Lua and an outstanding interface.

Don’t let the fact that Codea is an app fool you – Codea provides a full featured environment for development.

Here’s the Codea trailer demonstrating Codea in action:

A new Codea runtime library has been released allowing you to take your games created with Codea a step further and turn those games into standalone iPad apps. You’ll need a Mac and Xcode at this stage to build your game into a real iPad app and do the final submission.

The first game has already been released using Codea and the publishing library and is available free on the iPad app store known as Cargo Bot.